Lorry driver in M1 crash was ‘asleep’ before incident

A lorry driver accused of killing eight people on the M1 motorway when a minibus was crushed was ‘asleep in the slow lane for 12 minutes’ before the horror crash.

Aylesbury Crown Court heard Polish national Ryszard Masierak, 31, was also driving without a licence after it was previously revoked.

Six men and two women were killed when the minibus they were travelling on collided with two lorries at Junction 14 of the motorway at Newport Pagnell, at 3.15am on August 26.

Ryszard Masierak (pictured in a court sketch), 31, who is accused of killing eight people in a horror crash on the M1, was ‘asleep in the slow lane for 12 minutes’ before the smash

Those who died in the crash were Cyriac Joseph, 52, a father-of-two from Nottingham, who was the minibus driver, Panneerselvam Annamalai, 63 and Subramaniyan Arachelvan, 58.

IT workers Rishi Rajeev Kumar, 27, Vivek Bhaskaran, 26, Karthikeyan Pugalur Ramasubramanian, 33, three IT workers, also died.

The two female fatalities were Tamilmani Arachelvan, 50 and Lavanyalakshmi Seetharaman, 32. 

Masierak, of Evesham, Worcestershire, is accused of four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and eight counts of causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit. 

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